I may be dramatizing this a little bit, but hearing the booing at Yankee Stadium yesterday struck a nerve with me (as many things do).

I’m sorry, but did we move Yankee Stadium to Philadelphia when I wasn’t looking? I’ve always been annoyed with the way Phillies fans seem to boo everything, now it’s happening in the Bronx?

Aw, HELL NO!

Yes, I’m aware that this isn’t the first time a player has been booed at home, and I know it won’t be the last. However, this is probably the fastest a Yankee has reached the jeering level. An argument could be made for such stupidity if Vazquez had failed in pinstripes last year, but it’s been six years since we last saw him on our roster. Give me a break!

You thought I was annoyed with fans panicking over April losses? Darling, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Nothing enrages me more than seeing members of our own fanbase acting like complete idiots. Believe it or not, what I heard during yesterday’s game disgusts me far more than Red Sox Nation ever could. Why? Because it happened at home. These morons are giving my own fanbase a bad name. That angers me.

The very same fanbase that was hailed as being classy for cheering for Matsui all throughout the Home Opener, erased all the good by booing Javier Vazquez yesterday. Baseball fans all over the country are once again calling us classless. This time, I actually agree with them. We’re not all classless, but as always, the bad seeds ruin it for the rest of us.

I’ve reached my boiling point.

I encountered a few Yankees fans who defended yesterday’s booing. I’m not even surprised that I’ve come across fans defending such douchebaggery. They filled Yankee Stadium yesterday, I’m bound to bump into a few of them in person.

I just want to say to these idiots: “Your lips are moving, but all I hear is Blah blah blah, [expletive] blah“.

Here are a few of the well-thought statements made in defense of yesterday’s embarrassment (in bold):

“We pay good money to go to games, we can boo the players if we want to.”

You have the right to boo the players because you pay good money to see them play? Well save your money, do the rest of us a favor, and stay at home. Believe it or not, there are other Yankees fans who would love to have your seats so that they can actually cheer our team on. The whole point of you paying good money to see the Yankees play is so that you can be part of the team, the extra man on the field. If you can’t do that, stay at home and boo your TV.

“Booing is known as The Bronx Cheer. Get with the program.”

Booing is the “Bronx Cheer”? Really? It’s justified because that’s what the Bronx is known for?

Well, I’m from the Bronx, how about I go to your workplace and boo you every time you make a mistake? How does that sound? I’d only be doing it because that’s my way of cheering. I am a Bronx native, after all.

The Bronx is also known for being the home of the most spoiled fans in baseball. Congratulations on continuing to prove that such a generalization is accurate.

“It’s been happening for years, why stop now?”

Why stop now? Oh, I don’t know, maybe because it’s idiotic and spoiled to be booing your own players, especially in the first homestand of the season. I suppose we should all continue pathetic behavior simply because it’s become a regular thing.

It’s April for Heaven’s sake, if you’re so miserable now, when we have a winning record, what will you be like when we go on a losing streak?

“Players should learn to put up or shut up. That’s why we boo them.”

The old “Put Up or Shut Up” argument. Interesting. How about you give the player a chance to put up? Until then, I suggest that you shut up.

I don’t agree with ever booing your own players, but an argument can be made for such an idiotic act in August, not in April. If a player isn’t performing for a prolonged period of time, then I expect Yankees fans to boo him. I don’t agree with it, but I’ve come to anticipate it. Yesterday was Vazquez’s second start of the season, give him a chance to perform. I’d like to see you go back to a work environment in which your customers incessantly spewed venom in your direction. Let me see how you’d perform in your first two days on the job.

Get the [expletive] over yourselves.

What gave you the ridiculous idea that booing your own players is a good thing? Was it because Tino Martinez said he missed the boos when he left New York? He had to say that. He was put on the spot. Unlike you, he has more class than to blast anyone who is a part of the Yankees, even the fans. Too bad you can’t show the same respect that our players show you.

Oh, that’s right, you’re paying their salaries, that gives you the right to treat them the way that you do.

Get the [expletive] over yourselves.

Call me crazy, but I was under the impression that fans stood by their players until they showed that they’re no
t worthy of the support. Buying tickets and wearing the jersey doesn’t make you a fan. Having the number ’13’ on your back doesn’t give you the right to boo Alex Rodriguez (like you did in 2006).

Supporting your team through thick and thin is what makes you a fan. I’m sad to say that there were a lot of non-fans attending yesterday’s game. We weren’t even going through a rough patch, and the “fans” were already hating.

Why do we complain about Red Sox fans booing our players at Fenway? Our own fans boo our players at home! Congratulations to many of the fans at Yankee Stadium yesterday, you made the team feel as though they were playing in enemy territory. A lot of you deserve to have your fan cards revoked.

The boos started with Javy, but kept occurring whenever a Yankee made a mistake. I wasn’t at the stadium, but watching the game on TV, I noticed that the booing continued even after Vazquez was taken out. The fans began to boo a hitter for striking out, and an outfielder for failing to catch a ball. It was ridiculous!

The angry fans at yesterday’s game must have been the ones who couldn’t get tickets to Opening Day. The boos for our players were such a huge contrast from the cheers they were getting the day before. The loudest boos, of course, were for Javy.

Since you can’t logically be booing Javier Vazquez because of two starts, I’m assuming the hate for him comes from 2004. Way to build a bridge and get over it, Yankees fans. It’s been six years since he last wore pinstripes, and you people still aren’t over it. Javy wasn’t even the only one to blame for the 2004 collapse, the entire team choked that year. Fans in the Bronx, however, need a scapegoat to blame for the failure of the entire team.

How idiotic.

You are aware that the 2004 ALCS shouldn’t have even reached Game 7, right? You do realize that if the entire team didn’t choke in games 4, 5 and 6, it wouldn’t have even come down to Javier’s Game 7 start? There are so many factors that caused the loss that year, stop blaming it all on Javy.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Javier Vazquez was the only player to blame for that year’s heartbreak. Let’s just assume that that’s true. It’s been SIX [expletive] YEARS! We’re currently the reigning World Champions! What will it take for you people to forget?

Regardless of how you feel about Vazquez, booing is not the answer. It’s never right to boo your own player. An argument can be made for booing a player who doesn’t make any sort of effort for a prolonged period of time. I don’t agree with it, but that argument is valid. To boo a player in April, however, after he hasn’t been on our roster for six years, is never acceptable.

I don’t understand how fans who have experienced the 1980s and early 1990s in the Bronx could possibly be upset in a winning April coming off of a World Series victory. Why don’t you look back to twenty years ago, and be thankful for the fact that we have much to cheer about now?

Are you aware that there are millions of baseball fans who dream of their teams one day coming close to the Yankees in success? How about you try to be a fan of the Kansas City Royals for a year, then come back and boo our boys in the Bronx. Better yet, try to imagine being a fan of the Yankees in the 80s and early 90s, then tell me you have anything to be upset about right now.

A fellow Yankees fan said it best: “A good dose of Mike Gallego at short instead of Jeter, or Danny Tartabull in the cleanup spot instead of A-Rod, would shut them up!”

We’ve become too spoiled for our own good. I’m grateful for all the success the Yankees have had since 1996, but yesterday showed that the success has harmed us by spoiling our fanbase. If you think you’re doing the team a favor by going to games just to boo them when they make a mistake, you’re wrong. You’d be doing the team a bigger favor by staying home. The main reason why playing at home is considered an advantage is because you have your fans behind you.

Furthermore, I cannot understand why fans would consider booing anyone on the mound the day after a World Series ring ceremony. If Satan himself was pitching for us the day after we raised the World Series banner, I’d be cheering for him. This is supposed to be a happy April for us, not a miserable one. We won the first two series on the road, against our two toughest division rivals. If for nothing else, cheer for that.

Do I expect fans to cheer for a poor performance? No, I do not. Javier Vazquez didn’t have a poor performance, though. Not in yesterday’s game he didn’t. Yes, he gave up a few runs, but his only problem was his lifeless fastballs, and the Angels capitalized on that. The rest of his pitches were filthy. Adding life to his fastball will be easy for him to do. Once he does, it will be filthy too.

Whatever happened to finding the positives in a negative situation? The biggest positive from yesterday’s game was that it was a huge improvement from Javy’s first start this year. Try to focus on that. Who am I kidding, though? A lot of Yankees fans can’t be positive about anything that isn’t a World Series win.

What bothers me the most is that Javier Vazquez was going to be booed regardless of his performance. Unless he pitched a perfect game, he was going to get hate from the fans. Even if he got out of a bases-loaded situation unscathed, the fans were going to boo him. The hate for Javy resurfaced in December, when the trade was made, it was only publicly shown yesterday.

I don’t enjoy being angry with my own fanbase. I would love nothing more than to hold my head high and be proud of my fellow fans. Most of the time, I am. During our Home Opener, I was proud of the class we showed. During yesterday’s game, however, I was disgusted with the vast majority of fans at Yankee Stadium. It was one of those rare “I’m ashamed to be a part of the same fanbase as these idiots” moments.

Bottom line is: You can criticize your players, you can refuse to cheer for poor performances, but booing your own players at home is never justified.